Are Fairy Tales Good for Children?
Fairytales are short stories that typically feature European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves,elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments.
Research revealed one in five parents has scrapped old classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Rapunzel in favor of more modern books. One third of parents said their children have been left in tears after hearing the gruesome details of Little Red Riding Hood.
And nearly half of mothers and fathers refuse to read Rumplestiltskin to their kids as the themes of the story are kidnapping and ｅxecution. Similarly, Goldilocks and the Three Bears was also a tale likely to be left on the book shelf as parents felt it condones stealing. The survey of 2,000 adults was commissioned to mark the launch of the hit US drama GRIMM. The poll found a quarter of parents polled wouldn't consider reading a fairytale to their child until they had reached the age of five, as they prompt too many awkward questions from their offspring.
Steve Hornsey, General Manager, said: ''Bedtime stories are supposed to soothe children and send them off to sleep soundly. ''But as we see in GRIMM, fairy tales can be dark and dramatic tales so it's understandable that parents worry about reading them to young children.'' Despite the dark nature of classic fairy tales, as we see in GRIMM, good will triumph over evil and there is always a moral to the story.'' The study also found two thirds of mums and dads try to avoid stories which might give their children nightmares. However half of parents said traditional tales are more likely to have a strong moral message than a lot of modern kids' books, such as The Gruffalo, The Hungary Caterpillar and the Mr. Men books.
Some fairy tales that are no longer read to children are
1. Little Red Riding Hood - Deemed unsuitable by parents who have to explain a young girl's grandmother has been eaten by a wolf.
2. Cinderella - Story about a young girl doing all the housework was outdated.
3. Goldilocks and the Three Bears - Sends the wrong messages about stealing.
4. Rapunzel - Parents were worried about the focus on a young girl being kidnapped.
5. Rumplestiltskin - Wouldn't be happy reading about ｅxecutions and kidnapping.
Some of these stories weren’t meant to be safe little comforts at all. Full of treachery, sexual violence and what poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge called ‘motiveless malignancy’ they probably weren’t even intended for children. ‘Fairy tales are so frightening,’ says Australian cabaret artist.
On the other hand, fairy stories may teach us about the horrors but they can also give comfort, fairy tales give as lessons. Fairy tales give children an introduction to a particular culture. Fairy tales offer hope — hope of redemption, hope that good can conquer evil, hope that our enemies will be vanquished. The important thing is that we should always be there to guide our children, to answer their question, to explain why it happened parent’s guidance is the important thing.
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”–Albert Einstein
References:
VOCABULARY:
1. gruesome (adjective) causing horror or disgust.
2. scrap(ped) (noun) discarded or left over
3. malignancy/malignant (noun) disposed to cause harm, suffering, or distress deliberately feeling or showing ill will or hatred.
4. vanquished (verb) to conquer or subdue by superior force, as in battle.
5. poll (noun) a sampling or collection of opinions on a subject, taken from either a selected or a random group of persons, as for the purpose of analysis.
DISCUSSIONS:
1. Were you read fairy tales to, when you were a child?
2. How do you feel about fairy tales?
3. According to the article why are fairy tales not good for children?
4. If fairy tales are meant for children, how much of the themes do you think they understand?
5. Do you agree with the last quote? Why/ why not?
